Providing contextual information with a voicemail message

ABSTRACT

Aspects of the present invention are directed at obtaining contextual information with a voicemail message. In accordance with one embodiment, a method is provided that obtains additional contextual information that is not obtained automatically when a voicemail message is received. More specifically, the method includes automatically obtaining a first set of contextual information from a client associated with the caller when the caller is transferred to a voicemail system. Then a determination is made regarding whether the callee requests that additional contextual information be obtained. If the callee requests that additional contextual information be obtained, the requested information is obtained from a third-party service or by prompting the caller.

BACKGROUND

Generally described, an Internet telephony system provides anopportunity for users to have a call connection with enhanced callingfeatures compared to a conventional telephony system. In a typicalInternet telephony system, often referred to as Voice over InternetProtocol (VoIP), audio information is processed into a sequence of datablocks, called packets, for communications utilizing an InternetProtocol (IP) data network. During a VoIP call conversation, the voiceis converted into small frames of voice data according to a networklayer protocol used in the IP data network and a voice data packet isassembled by adding an IP header to the frame of voice data that istransmitted and received.

VoIP technology has been favored because of its flexibility andportability of communications, ability to establish and controlmultimedia communication, and the like. VoIP technology will likelycontinue to gain favor because of its ability to provide enhancedcalling features and advanced services. However, as enhanced callingfeatures and advanced services grow in popularity and complexity, theamount of contextual information to be transmitted in order to providesuch features and services becomes excessively large. With regardspecifically to enhanced calling features and advanced services, currentVoIP approaches can become inefficient for transferring large amounts ofcontextual information and not flexible in expanding data structures.

SUMMARY

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This summary is not intended to identify key features ofthe claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid indetermining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

Aspects of the present invention are directed at obtaining contextualinformation with a voicemail message. In accordance with one embodiment,a method is provided that includes obtaining a first set of contextualinformation from the client associated with the caller. Then adetermination is made regarding whether the voicemail account isconfigured to obtain additional contextual information. If the voicemailaccount is configured to obtain additional contextual information, themethod obtains the additional contextual information from the caller. Asa result, when a callee accesses a voicemail account, contextualinformation that, for example, describes the subject matter of the voicemail message may be provided.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of thisinvention will become more readily appreciated as the same become betterunderstood by reference to the following detailed description, whentaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrative of a VoIP environment forestablishing a conversation channel between various clients inaccordance with an aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrative of a VoIP client in accordancewith an aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrative of various components associatedwith a VoIP device in accordance with an aspect of the presentinvention;

FIGS. 4A and 4B are block diagrams illustrative of the exchange of databetween two VoIP clients over a conversation channel in accordance withan aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a data packet used over a communicationchannel established in the VoIP environment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating interactions between two VoIPclients for transferring contextual information defined by identifiedstructured hierarchies in accordance with an aspect of the presentinvention;

FIGS. 7A-7C are block diagrams illustrative of interactions among VoIPentities in the VoIP environment utilizing data packet prioritization inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 8-12 are block diagrams illustrative of various attribute andclasses of structured hierarchies corresponding to VoIP contextualinformation in accordance with an aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram of an account creation routine for creating aconfigurable voicemail account in which contextual information may beobtained from a caller in accordance with an aspect of the presentinvention;

FIG. 14 is a flow diagram of a collection routine that may prompt acaller for contextual information in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present invention; and

FIG. 15 is a flow diagram of a notification routine that provides acallee with access to contextual information that is related to avoicemail message in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Generally described, the present invention is directed at providing auser with access to contextual data that is related to a voicemailmessage. More specifically, the present invention obtains contextualinformation such as the “subject” of the voicemail message by promptinga caller for the information. When a callee accesses his or hervoicemail messages, the contextual information obtained from the callermay be provided without the callee being required to listen to the bodyof the voicemail message. Although the present invention will bedescribed in connection with an IP telephony environment, it is equallyapplicable to any type of digital data exchange that includes audio.Accordingly, the disclosed embodiments and examples are illustrative innature and should not be construed as limiting.

With reference to FIG. 1, a block diagram of an IP telephony environment100 for providing IP telephone services between various “VoIP clients”is shown. A “VoIP client,” as used herein, refers to a particularcontact point, such as an individual, an organization, a company, etc.,one or more associated VoIP devices, and a unique VoIP clientidentifier. For example, a single individual, five associated VoIPdevices and a unique VoIP client identifier collectively makeup a VoIPclient. Similarly, a company including five hundred individuals and overone thousand associated VoIP devices may also be collectively referredto as a VoIP client and that VoIP client may be identified by a uniqueVoIP client identifier. Moreover, VoIP devices may be associated withmultiple VoIP clients. For example, a computer (a VoIP device) locatedin a residence in which three different individuals live, eachindividual associated with separate VoIP clients, may be associated witheach of the three VoIP clients. Regardless of the combination ofdevices, the unique VoIP client identifier may be used within a voicesystem to reach the contact point of the VoIP client.

Generally described, the IP telephony environment 100 may include an IPdata network 108 such as the Internet, an intranet network, a wide areanetwork (WAN), a local area network (LAN) and the like. The IP telephonyenvironment 100 may further include VoIP service providers 126, 132providing VoIP services to VoIP clients 124, 125, 134. A VoIP callconversation may be exchanged as a stream of data packets correspondingto voice information, media information, and/or contextual information.As will be discussed in greater detail below, the contextual informationincludes metadata (information of information) relating to the VoIPconversation, the devices being used in the conversation, the contactpoint of the connected VoIP clients, and/or individuals that areidentified by the contact point (e.g., employees of a company).

The IP telephony environment 100 may also include third-party VoIPservice providers 140. The VoIP service providers 126, 132, 140 mayprovide various calling features, such as incoming call-filtering, textdata, voice and media data integration, and the integrated datatransmission as part of a VoIP call conversation. VoIP clients 104, 124,125, 136 may create, maintain, and provide information relating topredetermined priorities for incoming calls. In addition, the VoIPservice providers 126, 132, 140 may also generate, maintain, and providea separated set of priority information (e.g., provider priority list)for individuals communicating in a call conversation. The VoIP serviceproviders 126, 132, 140 may determined and assign an appropriatepriority level to data packets based on priority information provided byVoIP clients 104, 124, 125, 136 in conjunction with the providerpriority list.

VoIP service providers 132 may be coupled to a private network such as acompany LAN 136, providing IP telephone services (e.g., internal callswithin the private network, external calls outside of the privatenetwork, and the like), and multimedia data services to several VoIPclients 134 communicatively connected to the company LAN 136. Similarly,VoIP service providers, such as VoIP service provider 126, may becoupled to Internet Service Provider (ISP) 122, providing IP telephoneservices and VoIP services for clients of the ISP 122.

In one embodiment, one or more ISPs 106, 122 may be configured toprovide Internet access to VoIP clients 104, 124, 125 so that the VoIPclients 104, 124, 125 can maintain conversation channels establishedover the Internet. The VoIP clients 104, 124, 125 connected to the ISP106, 122 may use wired and/or wireless communication lines. Further,each VoIP client 104, 124, 125, 134 can communicate with Plain OldTelephone Service (POTS) 115 communicatively connected to a PSTN 112. APSTN interface 114 such as a PSTN gateway may provide access betweenPSTN and the IP data network 108. The PSTN interface 114 may translateVoIP data packets into circuit switched voice traffic for PSTN and viceversa. The PSTN 112 may include a land line device 116, a mobile device117, and the like.

Conventional voice devices, such as land line 116 may request aconnection with the VoIP client based on the unique VoIP identifier ofthat client and the appropriate VoIP device associated with the VoIPclient, will be used to establish a connection. In one example, anindividual associated with the VoIP client may specify which devices areto be used in connecting a call based on a variety of conditions (e.g.,connection based on the calling party, the time of day, etc.).

It is understood that the above mentioned configuration in theenvironment 100 is merely exemplary. It will be appreciated by one ofordinary skill in the art that any suitable configurations with variousVoIP entities can be part of the environment 100. For example, VoIPclients 134 coupled to LAN 136 may be able to communicate with otherVoIP clients 104, 124, 125, 134 with or without VoIP service providers132 or ISP 106, 122. Further, an ISP 106, 122 can also provide VoIPservices to its client.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a block diagram illustrating an exemplary VoIPclient 200 that includes several VoIP devices and a unique VoIPidentifier, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention,is shown. Each VoIP device 202, 204, 206 may include a storage that isused to maintain voice messages, address books, client specified rules,priority information related to incoming calls, etc. Alternatively, orin addition thereto, a separate storage, maintained for example by aservice provider, may be associated with the VoIP client and accessibleby each VoIP device that contains information relating to the VoIPclient. In an embodiment, any suitable VoIP device such as a wirelessphone 202, an IP phone 204, or a computer 206 with proper VoIPapplications may be part of the VoIP client 200. The VoIP client 200also maintains one or more unique VoIP identifier 208. The unique VoIPidentifier(s) 208 may be constant or change over time. For example, theunique identifier(s) 208 may change with each call. The unique VoIPidentifier is used to identify the client and to connect with thecontact point 210 associated with the VoIP client. The unique VoIPidentifier may be maintained on each VoIP device included in the VoIPclient and/or maintained by a service provider that includes anassociation with each VoIP device included in the VoIP client. In theinstance in which the unique VoIP identifier is maintained by a serviceprovider, the service provider may include information about eachassociated VoIP device and knowledge as to which device(s) to connectfor incoming communications. In alternative embodiment, the VoIP client200 may maintain multiple VoIP identifiers. In this embodiment, a uniqueVoIP identifier may be temporarily assigned to the VoIP client 200 foreach call session.

The unique VoIP identifier may be used similar to a telephone number inPSTN. However, instead of dialing a typical telephone number to ring aspecific PSTN device, such as a home phone, the unique VoIP identifieris used to reach a contact point, such as an individual or company,which is associated with the VoIP client. Based on the arrangement ofthe client, the appropriate device(s) will be connected to reach thecontact point. In one embodiment, each VoIP device included in the VoIPclient may also have its own physical address in the network or a uniquedevice number. For example, if an individual makes a phone call to aPOTS client using a personal computer (VoIP device), the VoIP clientidentification number in conjunction with an IP address of the personalcomputer will eventually be converted into a telephone numberrecognizable in PSTN.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a VoIP device 300 that may be associatedwith one or more VoIP clients and used with embodiments of the presentinvention. It is to be noted that the VoIP device 300 is described as anexample. It will be appreciated that any suitable device with variousother components can be used with embodiments of the present invention.For utilizing VoIP services, the VoIP device 300 may include componentssuitable for receiving, transmitting and processing various types ofdata packets. For example, the VoIP device 300 may include a multimediainput/output component 302 and a network interface component 304. Themultimedia input/output component 302 may be configured to input and/oroutput multimedia data (including audio, video, and the like), userbiometrics, text, application file data, etc. The multimediainput/output component 302 may include any suitable user input/outputcomponents such as a microphone, a video camera, a display screen, akeyboard, user biometric recognition devices, and the like. Themultimedia input/output component 302 may also receive and transmitmultimedia data via the network interface component 304. The networkinterface component 304 may support interfaces such as Ethernetinterfaces, frame relay interfaces, cable interfaces, DSL interfaces,token ring interfaces, radio frequency (air interfaces), and the like.The VoIP device 300 may comprise a hardware component 306 includingpermanent and/or removable storage such as read-only memory devices(ROM), random access memory (RAM), hard drives, optical drives, and thelike. The storage may be configured to store program instructions forcontrolling the operation of an operating system and/or one or moreapplications and to store contextual information related to individuals(e.g., voice profiles, user biometrics information, etc) associated withthe VoIP client in which the device is included. In one embodiment, thehardware component 306 may include a VoIP interface card which allowsnon-VoIP client device to transmit and receive a VoIP conversation.

The device 300 may further include a software application component 310for the operation of the device 300 and a VoIP Service applicationcomponent 308 for supporting various VoIP services. The VoIP serviceapplication component 308 may include applications such as data packetassembler/disassembler applications, a structured hierarchy parsingapplication, audio Coder/Decoder (CODEC), video CODEC and other suitableapplications for providing VoIP services. The CODEC may use voiceprofiles to filter and improve incoming audio.

With reference to FIG. 4A, a block diagram illustrative of aconversation flow 400 between VoIP devices of two different VoIP clientsover a conversation channel, in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention, is shown. During a connection set-up phase, a VoIPdevice of a first VoIP client 406 requests to initiate a conversationchannel with a second VoIP client 408. In an illustrative embodiment, aVoIP service provider 402 (Provider 1) for the first VoIP client 406receives the request to initiate a conversation channel and forwards therequest to a VoIP service provider 404 (Provider 2) for the second VoIPclient 406. While this example utilizes two VoIP service providers andtwo VoIP clients, any number and combination of VoIP clients and/orservice providers may be used with embodiments of the present invention.For example, only one service provider may be utilized in establishingthe connection. In yet another example, communication between VoIPdevices may be direct, utilizing public and private lines, therebyeliminating the need for a VoIP service provider. In a peer to peercontext, communication between VoIP devices may also be direct withouthaving any service providers involved.

There are a variety of protocols that may be selected for use inexchanging information between VoIP clients, VoIP devices, and/or VoIPservice providers. For example, when Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)is selected for a signaling protocol, session control information andmessages will be exchanged over a SIP signaling path/channel and mediastreams will be exchanged over Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP)path/channel. For the purpose of discussion, a communication channel, asused herein, generally refers to any type of data or signal exchangepath/channel. Thus, it will be appreciated that depending on theprotocol, a connection set-up phase and a connection termination phasemay require additional steps in the conversation flow 400.

For ease of explanation, we will utilize the example in which both thefirst VoIP client 406 and the second VoIP client 408 each only includesone VoIP device. Accordingly, the discussion provided herein will referto connection of the two VoIP devices. The individual using the deviceof the first VoIP client 406 may select or enter the unique VoIPidentifier of the client that is to be called. Provider 1 402 receivesthe request from the device of the first VoIP client 408 and determinesa terminating service provider (e.g., Provider 2 404 of the second VoIPclient 408) based on the unique VoIP identifier included in the request.The request is then forwarded to Provider 2 404. This call initiationwill be forwarded to the device of the second VoIP client. Aconversation channel between the device of the first VoIP client 406 anda device of the second VoIP client 408 can then be established.

In an illustrative embodiment, before the devices of the first VoIPclient 406 and the second VoIP client 408 begin to exchange datapackets, contextual information may be exchanged. As will be discussedin a greater detail below, the contextual information may be packetizedin accordance with a predefined structure that is associated with theconversation. Any device associated with the first VoIP client 406, theservice provider of the first VoIP client 406, or a differentdevice/service provider may determine the structure based on the contentof the contextual information. In one embodiment, the exchangedcontextual information may include information relating to the callingVoIP client 406, the device, and the VoIP client 408 being called. Forexample, the contextual information sent from the called VoIP client 406may include priority list of incoming calls from various potentialcalling VoIP clients including VoIP client 406.

Available media types, rules of the calling client and the client beingcalled, and the like, may also be part of the contextual informationthat is exchanged during the connection set-up phase. The contextualinformation may be processed and collected by one the devices of thefirst VoIP client 406, one of the devices of the second VoIP client 408,and/or by VoIP service providers (e.g., Provider 1 402 and Provider 2404), depending on the nature of the contextual information. In oneembodiment, the VoIP service providers 402, 404 may add/or delete someinformation to/from the client's contextual information beforeforwarding the contextual information.

In response to a request to initiate a conversation channel, the secondVoIP client 408 may accept the request for establishing a conversationchannel or execute other appropriate actions such as rejecting therequest via Provider 2 404. The appropriate actions may be determinedbased on the obtained contextual information. When a conversationchannel is established, a device of the first VoIP client 406 and adevice of the second VoIP client 408 start communicating with each otherby exchanging data packets. As will be described in greater detail, thedata packets, including conversation data packets and contextual datapackets, are communicated over the established conversation channelbetween the connected devices.

Conversation data packets carry data related to a conversation, forexample, a voice data packet, or multimedia data packet. Contextual datapackets carry information relating to data other than the conversationdata. Once the conversation channel is established, either the firstVoIP client 406 or the second VoIP client 408 can request to terminatethe conversation channel. Some contextual information may be exchangedbetween the first VoIP client 406 and the second VoIP client 408 afterthe termination.

FIG. 4B is a block diagram illustrative of a conversation flow 400between devices of two VoIP clients via several service providers, inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As with FIG. 4A,the example described herein will utilize the scenario in which eachclient only has one device associated therewith and the connectionoccurs between those two devices. During a connection set-up phase, adevice of a first VoIP client 406 requests to initiate a conversationchannel for communication with a second VoIP client 408. In anillustrative embodiment, a VoIP service provider 402 (Provider1) for thefirst VoIP client 406 receives the request to initiate a conversationchannel and forwards the request to a VoIP service provider 404(Provider2) for the second VoIP client 408.

Before the device of the first VoIP client 406 and the device of thesecond VoIP client 408 begin to exchange voice data packets, contextualinformation may be exchanged between the first VoIP client 406 and thesecond VoIP client 408. Contextual information may be exchanged using astructured organization defined by the first VoIP client 406. In oneembodiment, Provider 1 402 may identify particular contextualinformation which Provider 1 402 desires to obtain from the first VoIPclient 406. The first VoIP client 406 may specify the correspondingstructure based on the content of the contextual information. Theidentification of the structure for exchanging information andadditional contextual information may be transmitted to the second VoIPclient 408 via Provider 2 404 and Provider 1 402.

The contextual information may be processed and collected at a device ofthe first VoIP client, a device of the second VoIP client, and/or theVoIP service providers (e.g., Provider1 and Provider2), depending on thenature of the contextual information. For example, voice profiles may becollected by the service providers 402, 404, and only temporarilyprovided to the devices. Further, third-party Service Provider(s)(third-party SP) 410, 412 can obtain and/or add contextual informationexchanged among devices of the first VoIP client 406 and second VoIPclient 408, Provider 1 402, and Provider 2 404.

In one embodiment, any of Provider 1 402, Provider 2 404, andthird-party SP 410, 412 may add, modify and/or delete contextualinformation before forwarding the contextual information to the nextVoIP device(s), including other service providers.

In response to a request to initiate a conversation channel, the secondVoIP client 408 may accept the request for establishing a conversationchannel or reject the request via Provider 2 404. When a conversationchannel has been established, the devices of the first VoIP client 406and the second VoIP client 408 start communicating with each other byexchanging data packets as discussed above. In one embodiment,contextual and/or conversation data packets may be forwarded tothird-party SPs 410, 412 from Provider 1 402, Provider 2 404, or fromeither VoIP client 406, 408. Further, the forwarded contextual and/orconversation data packets may be exchanged among various third-party SPs410, 412.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a data packet structure 500 used over acommunication (conversation) channel in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present invention. The data packet structure 500 may be a datapacket structure for an IP data packet suitable for being utilized tocarry conversation data (e.g., voice, multimedia data, and the like) orcontextual data (e.g., information relating to the VoIP services, andthe like). However, any other suitable data structure can be utilized tocarry conversation data or contextual data. The data packet structure500 includes a header 502 and a payload 504, The header 502 may containinformation necessary to deliver the corresponding data packet to adestination. Additionally, the header 502 may include informationutilized in the process of a conversation. Such information may includeconversation ID 506 for identifying a conversation (e.g., call), aDestination ID 508, such as a unique VoIP identifier of the client beingcalled, a Source ID 510 (unique VoIP identifier of the calling client ordevice identifier), Payload ID 512 for identifying type of payload(e.g., conversation or contextual), individual ID (not shown) foridentifying the individual for which the conversation data is related,and the like. In an alternative embodiment, the header 502 may containinformation regarding Internet protocol versions, and payload length,among others. The payload 504 may include conversational or contextualdata relating to an identified conversation. As will be appreciated byone of ordinary skill in the art, additional headers may be used forupper layer headers such as a TCP header, a UDP header, and the like.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a structured hierarchy maybe predefined for communicating contextual information over a VoIPconversation channel. The contextual information may include anyinformation relating to VoIP clients, VoIP devices, conversation channelconnections (e.g., call basics), conversation context (e.g., callcontext), and the like. More specifically, the contextual informationmay include client preference, client rules, client's location (e.g.,user location, device location, etc.), biometrics information, theclient's confidential information, VoIP device's functionality, VoIPservice providers information, media type, media parameters, callingnumber priority, keywords, information relating to application files,and the like. The contextual information may be processed and collectedat each VoIP client and/or the VoIP service providers depending on thenature of the contextual data. In one aspect, the VoIP service providersmay add, modify, and/or delete VoIP client's contextual data beforeforwarding the contextual information. For example, client'sconfidential information will be deleted by the VoIP service providerassociated with that client unless the client authorizes suchinformation to be transmitted. In some cases, a minimal amount ofcontextual information is transmitted outside of an intranet network.

With reference to FIG. 6, a block diagram 600 illustrating interactionsbetween two VoIP clients for transferring contextual information, inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention, is shown. Aswith FIGS. 4A and 4B, the example described herein will utilize thescenario in which each client only has one device associated therewithand the connection occurs between those two devices. In one embodiment,devices of VoIP Client 606 and VoIP Client 608 have established a VoIPconversation channel. It may be identified which structured hierarchieswill be used to carry certain contextual information by VoIP Client 606.The information regarding the identified structured hierarchies mayinclude information about which structured hierarchies are used to carrythe contextual information, how to identify the structured hierarchy,and the like. Such information will be exchanged between VoIP Client 606and VoIP Client 608 before the corresponding contextual information isexchanged. Upon receipt of the information about which structuredhierarchy is used to carry the contextual information, VoIP Client 608looks up predefined structured hierarchies (e.g., XML namespace and thelike) to select the identified structured hierarchies. In oneembodiment, the predefined structured hierarchies can be globally storedand managed in a centralized location accessible from a group of VoIPclients. In this embodiment, a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) addressof the centralized location may be transmitted from VoIP Client 606 toVoIP Client 608.

In another embodiment, each VoIP client may have a set of predefinedstructured hierarchies stored in a local storage of any devices or adedicated local storage which all devices can share. The predefinedstructured hierarchies may be declared and agreed upon between VoIPclients before contextual information is exchanged. In this manner, theneed to provide the structure of the contextual data packets may beeliminated and thus the amount of transmitted data packets correspondingto the contextual data is reduced. Further, by employing the predefinedstructured hierarchies, data packets can be transmitted in a mannerwhich is independent of hardware and/or software.

Upon retrieving the identified structured hierarchy, VoIP Client 608 isexpecting to receive a data stream such that data packets correspondingto the data stream are defined according to the identified structuredhierarchies. VoIP Client 606 can begin sending contextual informationrepresented in accordance with the identified structured hierarchies. Inone embodiment, VoIP Client 608 starts a data binding process withrespect to the contextual information. For example, instances of theidentified structured hierarchies may be constructed with the receivedcontextual information.

FIGS. 7A-7C are block diagrams 700 illustrating interactions among VoIPentities in the VoIP environment utilizing data packet prioritization inaccordance with an aspect of the present invention. In one embodiment,the VoIP entities may include VoIP clients, VoIP service providers forthe clients, third-party service providers and the like. It is to benoted that one of ordinary skill in the relevant art will appreciatethat any suitable entities may be included in the IP telephoneenvironment.

With reference to FIG. 7A, in one embodiment, VoIP Client 606 mayalready have an existing communication channel with VoIP Client 608.While this example utilizes two VoIP service providers and two VoIPclients, any number and combination of VoIP clients and/or serviceproviders may be used with embodiments of the present invention. Aservice provider of VoIP Client 606, Provider 1 602 has already obtainedcontextual information including priority information from VoIP Client606. As will be described in greater detail below, it is contemplatedthat structured hierarchies are utilized to carry contextual information(contextual data packets) between several VoIP entities in thisillustrative embodiment. In the embodiment, Provider 1 602 may receive arequest from VoIP Client 612 to initiate a communication channel betweendevices of VoIP Client 612 and VoIP Client 606. Provider 1 602 maydetermine priority levels of VoIP Client 608 and VoIP Client 612 basedon the priority information obtained from VoIP Client 606. In oneembodiment, contextual information corresponding to the priorityinformation may include a predefined priority level for each potentialVoIP client that may call VoIP Client 606. Alternatively, a predefinedpriority level can be specified based on a membership associated with aparticular group of potential callers, or the VoIP client associatedwith the caller. In this example, if a potential caller is identified asa member of a particular group (e.g., a family, a customer, anemergency, a project team, etc), a priority level of the particulargroup will be assigned to the potential caller.

If Provider 1 602 determines that VoIP Client 612 has higher prioritythan VoIP Client 608, Provider 1 602 accepts the request to initiate acommunication channel between VoIP Client 612 and VoIP Client 606. Thecommunication channel is established between VoIP Client 612 and VoIPClient 606. VoIP Client 612 starts sending data packets to Provider 1602 over the established communication channel. In one embodiment,Provider 1 602 may terminate, interrupt, or alter the existingcommunication channel between VoIP Client 606 and VoIP Client 608. Upontermination of the existing communication channel, Provider 2 604 maynotify VoIP Client 608 of the termination. In an alternative embodiment,Provider 1 602 may interrupt the existing communication channel byputting on hold data packets transmitted from VoIP Client 608. Uponinterruption of the existing communication channel, Provider 2 604 maynotify VoIP Client 608 of the interruption. As will be appreciated byone of ordinary skill in the art, VoIP Client 608 can terminate thecommunication channel any time during the interruption. After thecommunication channel between VoIP Client 606 and VoIP Client 608 hasbeen terminated or interrupted, VoIP Client 606 and VoIP Client 612 canexchange data packets between each other over the newly establishedcommunication channel. Provider 1 602 may transmit the data packetsreceived from VoIP Client 612 to the VoIP Client 606. It is contemplatedthat an authorized VoIP client or device can force a change in prioritylevels of data packets even after the priority levels have beendetermined. Such a change may occur at any time (e.g., before, during,and/or after a conversation). It is also contemplated that the prioritylevels of data packets can be dynamically evaluated and altered based oncontextual information received from VoIP clients, service providers, orother VoIP entities.

In one embodiment, priority levels of data packets may be determinedbased on numerous kinds of information including priority of sendingclient, size, and type (e.g., multimedia, text, audio, application file,and the like) of data packets, callee preferences, and the like. In anillustrative embodiment, Provider 1 602 may determine the priority levelof data packets based on the type of data packets when it is not able tocompare the priority levels of VoIP Client 612 and VoIP Client 608. Forexample, VoIP Client 612 and VoIP Client 608 have the same level ofpriority. Provider 1 602 may assign priorities such that data packetsrequiring real-time data transfer have a higher priority than others.Similarly, Provider 1 602 may consider the size of the contextualinformation. Data packets relating to contextual information which havea small amount of information may have higher priority than others.

With reference to FIG. 7B, in another illustrative embodiment, a deviceof VoIP Client 606 may already have an existing communication channelwith VoIP Client 608. Provider 1 602 may receive a request from VoIPClient 612 to initiate a new communication channel with VoIP Client 606.At approximately the same time, Provider 1 602 may receive an emergencydata packet from Emergency Broadcast (EB) Client 614 (e.g., emergencybroadcasting message to VoIP clients in certain geographic areas). It iscontemplated that EB Client 614 may include any client with an authorityto broadcast emergency data packets via its associated one or moreproviders. In this embodiment, Provider 1 602 may provide VoIP servicesto both VoIP Client 612 and EB Client 614. In order to decide which datapacket is to be transmitted to VoIP Client 606, Provider 1 602determines priority levels of VoIP Client 608, VoIP Client 612 and EBClient 614 based on the priority information obtained from VoIP Client606. In one embodiment, the priority information may include apredefined priority level for each potential caller for the VoIP Client606, a predefined priority level for a group of potential callers, orthe like.

In an illustrative embodiment, VoIP Client 606 may have specified ahigher priority level to EB Client 614 than VoIP Client 612 or VoIPClient 608. In this embodiment, Provider 1 602 may terminate, interrupt,or alter the existing communication channel in order to transmit EB datapackets. Upon termination of the existing communication channel,Provider 2 604 may notify VoIP Client 608 of the termination. However,based on the client preference information of VoIP Client 606, Provider1 602 may interrupt the existing communication channel by putting onhold data packets from VoIP Client 608. Upon interruption of theexisting communication channel, Provider 2 604 may notify VoIP Client608 of the interruption. VoIP Client 608 can terminate the existingcommunication channel any time during the interruption. Provider 1 602rejects the request from VoIP Client 612 to initiate a communicationchannel.

After terminating, interrupting, or altering the communication channelbetween VoIP Client 606 and VoIP Client 608, Provider 1 602 may transmitthe emergency data packets received from EB Client 614 to the VoIPClient 608. Generally, a typical two-way communication channel may notbe necessary for emergency broadcasting and thus VoIP Client 606 canreceive incoming data packets from EB Client 614 but not be able to sendoutgoing data packets to EB Client 614.

With reference to FIG. 7C, in one embodiment, a device of VoIP Client606 may already have an existing communication channel with VoIP Client608. Provider 1 602 may receive emergency data packets from one or moreEB clients 616, 618. In this embodiment, Provider 1 602 may receive afirst set of emergency data packets from EB Client 616 and a second setof emergency data packets from EB Client 618. Provider 1 602 maydetermine priority levels of EB Client 616 and EB Client 618 based onthe priority information obtained from VoIP Client 606, or based on apredefined priority information for EB clients. In one embodiment,contextual information corresponding to the priority information may beexchanged to provide information relating to a predefined priority levelfor each potential caller for VoIP Client 606, a predefined prioritylevel for a group of potential callers, or the like.

In one embodiment, VoIP Client 606 may have specified a predefinedpriority level for a group of potential callers. For example, VoIPClient 606 may have assigned the highest priority level to a group ofEBs, the second highest priority level to Family members, the thirdhighest level to Friends and so on. Although EBs have the highestpriority, individual EBs (e.g., EB Client 616 and EB Client 618) can notbe compared since they may have the same level of priority. In thisembodiment, Proivder1 may maintain a provider priority list foremergency clients and determine the priority level for EB Client 616 andEB Client 618 based on the provider priority list in conjunction withthe priority information provided from VoIP Client 606.

For the purpose of discussion, assume that Provider 1 602 may determinethat EB Client 616 has a higher priority than EB Client 618. Asexplained above, Provider 1 602 may terminate, interrupt, or alter theexisting communication channel between VoIP Client 606 and VoIP Client608. Upon termination of the existing communication channel, Provider 2604 may notify VoIP Client 608 of the termination. Likewise, uponinterruption of the existing communication channel, Provider 2 604 maynotify VoIP Client 608 of the interruption. VoIP Client 608 canterminate the communication channel any time during the interruption.After terminating or interrupting the existing communication channelbetween VoIP Client 606 and VoIP Client 608, Provider 1 602 may transmitthe emergency data packets transmitted from EB Client 616 to VoIP Client606. As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, atypical two-way communication channel may not be necessary for emergencybroadcasting and thus VoIP Client 606 may receive incoming data packetsfrom EB Client 614 but not be able to send outgoing data packets. In analternative embodiment, Provider 1 602 may store data packetstransmitted from EB Client 618 in a storage area such as a buffer andthe like. The stored emergency data packets may be transmitted afterdata packets from EB Client 616 have been transmitted.

As mentioned above, structured hierarchies may be identified forcommunicating contextual information corresponding to called VoIPclient's priority information. Further, the information regarding theidentified structured hierarchies may be transmitted. The informationregarding the identified structured hierarchies may include theinformation about which structured hierarchies carry the contextualinformation, how to identify the structured hierarchies, and the like.Subsequently, the contextual information corresponding to priorityinformation may be represented in accordance with the identifiedstructured hierarchies and transmitted.

In one embodiment, the structured hierarchies may be defined byExtensible Markup Language (XML). However, it is to be appreciated thatthe structured hierarchies can be defined by any language suitable forimplementing and maintaining extensible structured hierarchies.Generally described, XML is well known for a cross-platform, softwareand hardware independent tool for transmitting information. Further, XMLmaintains its data as a hierarchically-structured tree of nodes, eachnode comprising a tag that may contain descriptive attributes.Typically, a XML namespace is provided to give the namespace a uniquename. In some instances, the namespace may be used as a pointer to acentralized location containing default information about the namespace.

In an illustrative embodiment, VoIP Client 606 may identify a XMLnamespace for contextual information. For example, the XML namespaceattribute may be placed in the start tag of a sending element. It is tobe understood that XML namespaces, attributes, classes illustratedherein are provided merely as an example of structured hierarchies usedin conjunction with various embodiments of the present invention. AfterVoIP Client 608 receives the XML namespace information, the VoIP Client606 transmits a set of contextual data packets defined in accordancewith the identified XML namespace to VoIP Client 608. When a namespaceis defined in the start tag of an element, all child elements with thesame prefix are associated with the same namespace. As such, VoIP Client608 and VoIP Client 606 can transmit contextual information withoutincluding prefixes in all the child elements, thereby reducing theamount of data packets transmitted for the contextual information.

With reference to FIGS. 8-12, block diagrams illustrative of variousclasses and attributes of structured hierarchies corresponding to VoIPcontextual information are shown. The VoIP contextual informationexchanged between various VoIP entities (e.g., clients, serviceproviders, etc.) may correspond to a VoIP namespace 800. In oneembodiment, the VoIP namespace 800 is represented as a hierarchicallystructured tree of nodes, each node corresponding to a subclass whichcorresponds to a subset of VoIP contextual information. For example, aVoIP Namespace 800 may be defined as a hierarchically structured treecomprising a Call Basics Class 802, a Call Contexts Class 810, a DeviceType Class 820, a VoIP Client Class 830, and the like.

With reference to FIG. 9, a block diagram of a Call Basics Class 802 isshown. In an illustrative embodiment, Call Basics Class 802 maycorrespond to a subset of VoIP contextual information relating to aconversation channel connection (e.g., a PSTN call connection, a VoIPcall connection, and the like). The subset of the VoIP contextualinformation relating to a conversation channel connection may includeoriginating numbers (e.g., a caller's VoIP ID number), destinationnumbers (e.g., callees'VoIP ID numbers or telephone numbers), callconnection time, VoIP service provider related information, and/or ISPrelated information such as IP address, MAC address, namespaceinformation and the like. Additionally, the contextual informationrelating to a conversation channel connection may include call priorityinformation (which defines the priority levels of the destinationnumbers), call type information, and the like. The call type informationmay indicate whether the conversation channel is established for anemergency communication, a broadcasting communication, a computer tocomputer communication, a computer to POTS device communication, and soforth. In one embodiment, the contextual information relating to aconversation channel connection may include predefined identifiers whichrepresent emotions, sounds (e.g., “ah,” “oops,” “wow,” etc.) and facialexpressions in graphical symbols. In one embodiment, a Call Basics Class802 may be defined as a sub-tree structure of a VoIP Namespace 800,which includes nodes such as call priority 803, namespace information804, call type 805, destination numbers 806, service provider 807,predefined identifiers 808, and the like.

With reference to FIG. 10, a block diagram of a Call Contexts Class 810is shown. In one embodiment, a subset of VoIP contextual informationrelating to conversation context may correspond to the Call ContextsClass 810. The contextual information relating to conversation contextmay include information such as client supplied keywords, identifiedkeywords from document file data, identified keywords from aconversation data packet (e.g., conversation keywords), file names fordocuments and/or multimedia files exchanged as part of the conversation,game related information (such as a game type, virtual proximity in acertain game), frequency of use (including frequency and duration ofcalls relating to a certain file, a certain subject, and a certainclient), and file identification (such as a case number, a matternumber, and the like relating to a conversation), among many others. Inaccordance with an illustrative embodiment, a Call Contexts Class 810may be defined as a sub-tree structure of a VoIP Namespace 800, whichincludes nodes corresponding to file identification 812, client suppliedkeyword 813, conversation keyword 814, frequency of use 815, subject ofthe conversation 816, and the like.

With reference to FIG. 11, a block diagram of a Device Type Class 820 isdepicted. In one embodiment, a Device Type Class 820 may correspond to asubset of VoIP contextual information relating to a VoIP client deviceused for the conversation channel connection. The subset of the VoIPcontextual information relating to the VoIP client device may includeaudio related information which may be needed to process audio datagenerated by the VoIP client device. The audio related information mayinclude information related to the device's audio functionality andcapability, such as sampling rate, machine type, output/input type,microphone, Digital Signal Processing (DSP) card information, and thelike. The subset of the VoIP contextual information relating to the VoIPclient device may include video related information which may be neededto process video data generated by the VoIP client device. The videorelated information may include resolution, refresh, type, and size ofthe video data, graphic card information, and the like. The contextualinformation relating to VoIP client devices may further include otherdevice specific information such as a type of the computer system,processor information, network bandwidth, wireless/wired connection,portability of the computer system, processing settings of the computersystem, and the like. In an illustrative embodiment, a Device Type Class820 may be defined as a sub-tree structure of a VoIP Namespace 800,which includes nodes corresponding to Audio 822, Video 824, DeviceSpecific 826, and the like.

With reference to FIG. 12, a block diagram of a VoIP Client Class 830 isdepicted. In accordance with an illustrative embodiment, a VoIP ClientClass 830 may correspond to a subset of contextual information relatingto VoIP clients. In one embodiment, the subset of the VoIP contextualinformation relating to the VoIP client may include voice profileinformation (e.g., a collection of information specifying the tonal andphonetic characteristics of an individual user), digital signatureinformation, and biometric information. The biometric information caninclude user identification information (e.g., fingerprint) related tobiometric authentication, user stress level, user mood, etc.Additionally, the subset of the VoIP contextual information relating tothe VoIP client may include location information (including a clientdefined location, a VoIP defined location, a GPS/triangulation location,and a logical/virtual location of an individual user), assigned phonenumber, user contact information (such as name, address, company, andthe like), rules defined by the client, user preferences, digital rightsmanagement (DRM), a member rank of an individual user in anorganization, priority associated with the member rank, and the like.The priority associated with the member rank may be used to assignpriority to the client for a conference call. In one embodiment, a VoIPClient Class 830 may be defined as a sub-tree structure of a VoIPNamespace 800, which includes nodes corresponding to user biometrics831, location 832, client rules 833, user identification 834, memberpriority 835, user preference 836, and the like.

Now with reference to FIGS. 13-15, aspects of the present invention thatare directed at obtaining and/or extracting contextual information thatis related to a voicemail message will be described. Those skilled inthe art and others will recognize that an Internet telephony environment100 may include a voicemail system that allows a caller to leave anaudio and/or multimodal message (e.g. audio with an electronic file)when a callee is unavailable. For example, a VoIP service provider 132may provide VoIP clients 134 with voicemail services that allow a callerto leave messages in a voice mailbox for a callee. In this regard, aservice provider 132 may automatically forward a data stream to acomputing device associated with the callee that includes the voicemailmessage. In some systems, the callee may listen to the voicemail messagefrom a local computing device using a voicemail or e-mail application.In other instances and by way of example only, a user may listen tovoicemail messages by accessing an audio menu managed by a serviceprovider.

A VoIP call conversation may be exchanged as a stream of data packetscorresponding to voice information, media information, and/or contextualinformation. Contextual information typically provided in the metadataof a voicemail message includes the identity of the caller and/or thecaller's return number. However, in some instances, a callee may want toobtain contextual information that may not be known when a callconnection is established. For example, a callee may want to receivevoicemail messages with a “subject” in which the caller describes thetopic of the voicemail message. If voicemail messages include a subject,then a callee may be able to easily prioritize and quickly process allreceived messages. In accordance with one embodiment, aspects of thepresent invention obtain contextual information from a caller based onthe configuration of the callee's voicemail account. As a result, when acallee accesses a voicemail account, contextual information may beprovided.

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram of an account creation routine 1300 forcreating a configurable voicemail account in which contextualinformation may be obtained from a caller in accordance with an aspectof the present invention. In one embodiment, a service providermaintains a centralized computer system that stores rule definitions,user preferences, and other account information. To create an account, awizard or similar input system may be employed to interact with a user.Moreover, a user may update the voicemail account, by activating thewizard and editing information included in the account.

The account creation routine 1300 begins at block 1302 and at block 1304basic information about the owner of the voicemail account is obtained.The basic information may include, but is not limited to, theindividual's name for which the account is being created, the uniqueVoIP identifier of the client with which the individual is associated,the date of creation for the account, the attributes of the device(s)associated with the client (VoIP client), such as equipment ID, rules asto how the voicemail account may be used/shared, etc. The basicinformation may be obtained automatically if the information waspreviously provided by the owner of the account. Alternatively, thebasic information may be input by the account owner using a wizard orsimilar input system.

Upon identification of the basic information, at block 1305, a set ofrule definitions used to determine whether a caller will be prompted forcontextual information related to a voicemail message are established.As discussed above, during the establishment of a communication channel,or at some point thereafter, contextual information is automaticallyexchanged between clients engaged in the communication. In someinstances, the contextual information exchanged is extensive andincludes information that relates to VoIP clients, clients, conversationchannel connections (e.g., call basics), conversation context (e.g.,call context), and the like. In other instances, the contextualinformation exchanged is limited and may only include a caller'sidentity and return number. At block 1305, rule definitions that definethe contextual information that will be made available to the callee areobtained. For example, a voicemail account owner may define rules tohave a set of contextual information such as, but not limited to, thecaller's identity/profile, organization, telephone number, subject ofthe voicemail message, etc., made available when a voicemail message isaccessed. As described in further detail below with reference to FIG.14, rule definitions will typically be referenced to determine whetheradditional contextual information will be obtained. For example, asdescribed in further detail below, the rule definitions established, atblock 1305, may cause a caller to be prompted for contextual informationthat is not automatically obtained when the communication channel isestablished. Moreover, aspects of the present invention may gatheradditional contextual information, if available, from third-partyservices based on the rule definitions established by a callee.

As illustrated in FIG. 13, at block 1306, preferences that relate to howcontextual information is made available to the voicemail account ownerare obtained. As mentioned previously, voicemail messages may beaccessed in a number of different ways. For example, a voicemail accountowner may use a POTS or wireless telephone to access an audio menumanaged by a service provider in which menu items may be selected tonavigate and listen to a voicemail message. In this example, thepreferences obtained at block 1306 define how contextual informationwill be made available from the audio menu. A user may establish apreference to have certain contextual information automatically providedat the audio menu using an available Text-to-Speech (“TTS”) engine.Alternatively, a user may select preferences to have the contextualinformation made available from the audio menu only on demand.

By way of another example, in some voicemail systems, voicemail messagesare forwarded to an account owner as attachments to e-mail messages. Inthis example, the user may input a set of preferences to identifycontextual information that will be made available in the body orsubject line of the e-mail message. Accordingly, a user may establish apreference to have a set of contextual information that includes theidentity/profile of the caller, subject of the voicemail message, timeof the call, and organization of the caller and the like, collected andmade available in the body of an e-mail for every voicemail received.While specific examples of preferences that may be established by theaccount owner have been described above, those skilled in the art andothers will recognize that other types of preferences may be establishedwithout departing from the scope of the claimed subject matter.

At block 1308, a data structure that stores information related to therules and preferences of the voicemail account being created ispopulated. Among other things, the data structure contains entries forthe basic information, rule definitions, and preferences input at blocks1304-1306, described above. Since every user has different basicinformation, rule definitions, and preferences, each will have a uniquedata structure. As described in further detail below, when a voicemessage is received the data structure populated by the account creationroutine 1300 is referenced to determine whether additional contextualinformation will be obtained either by prompting the caller or byaccessing a third-party service. Moreover, the data structure may bereferenced to determine how contextual information is made available toan account owner. Then the account creation routine 1300 proceeds toblock 1310, where it terminates.

In accordance with one embodiment, the exchange of information between acaller and the voicemail system uses contextual data packets defined inaccordance with an identified XML namespace. For example, the basicinformation may be obtained automatically, at block 1302, in thisembodiment if the information sending client identifies at least onestructured hierarchy from predefined structured hierarchies, such as anXML namespace. Moreover, classes and/or attributes to structuredhierarchies may be extended beyond the set of predefined structuredhierarchies if additional contextual information of the type that may bemade available from a third-party service will be transmitted betweenclients.

Now with reference to FIG. 14, a flow diagram of a collection routine1400 that obtains contextual information from a caller and/orthird-party based on the configuration of a callee's voicemail accountwill be described. As a preliminary matter, a caller may request that aservice provider initiate a communication channel connection with acallee prior to the collection routine 1400 being executed.

As illustrated in FIG. 14, the collection routine 1400 begins at block1401 and at decision block 1402, the routine 1400 remains idle until acaller is transferred to a voicemail system. Typically, a caller istransferred to a voicemail system when an attempt to initiate acommunication channel with a callee is unsuccessful. For example, if acallee does not answer a call or is otherwise unavailable, the callermay be automatically forwarded to a voicemail system managed by theservice provider of the callee or by a third-party service. In otherinstances, a caller may use an application program to access a voicemailsystem by recording a voicemail message on a computing device andcausing the message to be forwarded to the callee. However, thoseskilled in the art and others will recognize that the examples providedabove are exemplary as a voicemail system may be accessed, at block1402, using other techniques.

At block 1404, the service provider of the callee automatically obtainsa first set of contextual information from the caller (if the callee isalso a client of the service provider of the caller) or from a serviceprovider of the callee (if the caller has a separate service provider).When a caller is transferred to a voicemail system, service providerswill typically initiate a communication channel between clientsassociated with a caller and the voicemail system. In this regard, theservice provider of the caller may obtain the caller's contextualinformation represented in accordance with identified structuredhierarchies. Then, the service provider of the caller forwards thecontextual information to a service provider associated with the calleewhen a communication channel with the voicemail system is established.Of course, one skilled in the art will recognize that the contextualinformation may be obtained using a different path of communication thandescribed above.

At block 1405, the set of contextual information that will be madeavailable to the callee is identified. As mentioned previously withreference to FIG. 13, rules are established for identifying the set ofcontextual information that will be made available to a callee with eachvoicemail message. In this regard, at block 1405, a lookup is performedin the data structure that stores the rule definitions established bythe callee. As mentioned previously and by way of example only, a rulemay be established by a callee that causes each caller to be promptedfor a “subject” or other type of contextual information if the requestedinformation was not automatically obtained, at block 1404. However, thesame contextual information may not be obtained and made available tothe callee with each voicemail message. Instead, as described in furtherdetail below, rules established by the callee may cause different typesof contextual information to be obtained depending on certain variablessuch as, but not limited to, the capabilities of the client being usedto leave the voicemail message, the additional contextual informationthat is available from third-party services, preferences established bythe callee, and the like. In any event, at block 1405, a data structurelookup is performed to identify the rule definitions established by thecallee. Then, by performing a comparison of the rule definitionsestablished by the callee to certain variables, the set of contextualinformation that will be made available to the callee is identified.

At decision block 1406, a determination is made regarding whetheradditional contextual information will be obtained from a third-partyservice. The contextual information that is obtained automatically (atblock 1404) may indicate that the caller is not associated with anythird-party service. Moreover, even if additional contextual informationis available from a third-party service, all of the contextualinformation requested by the callee may have been previously obtained.In these instances, the result of the test performed at block 1406 is“no” and the collection routine 1400 proceeds to block 1408, describedin further detail below.

Alternatively, additional contextual information that is requested bythe callee may be available from a third-party service. For example, thecaller may maintain a profile with a third-party social group that haspermission to share the caller's social information (e.g. gender,marital status, picture, interests, mood, etc.) over a network service.By way of another example, a third-party service that uses globalpositioning systems (“GPS”) or similar technologies may share a caller'slocation/presence information. However, those skilled in the art andwill recognize that the examples of third-party services provided aboveshould be construed as exemplary and not limiting. Instead, aspects ofthe present invention are highly configurable and may be configured tocommunicate with any existing, or yet to be developed, third-partyservice. In any event, if the callee requested additional contextualinformation not previously obtained that is available from a third-partyservice, the result of the test performed at block 1406 is “yes” and thecollection routine 1400 proceeds to block 1407.

As illustrated in FIG. 14, at block 1407, additional contextualinformation requested by the callee is obtained from a third-partyservice. Similar to the description provided above, to facilitatecommunication between remote clients, the additional contextualinformation obtained from the third-party service may be defined inaccordance with an identified XML namespace. Moreover, preferencesestablished by the callee may cause different types of contextualinformation to be obtained that depend on one or more variables. Forexample, the time when the voicemail messages are received is one typeof contextual information that may be obtained, at block 1402, orsometime thereafter. The callee may establish a rule definition to havedifferent sets of contextual information obtained from the third-partyservice based on the time a voicemail message is received. In thisregard and by way of example only, if a voicemail message is receivedbetween the hours of 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., the rule definition maydictate that a set of social information (e.g. gender, marital status,picture, interests, mood, etc.) is obtained. Conversely, if a voicemailmessage is received during “business hours,” the rule definition maydictate that additional contextual information will not be obtained orthat a different set of contextual information (title, organization,subject matter, etc) is obtained.

At decision block 1408, a determination is made regarding whetheradditional contextual information will be obtained by prompting thecaller who was transferred to the voicemail system, at block 1402.Generally stated, two factors influence whether the caller will beprompted for additional contextual information. First, the capabilitiesof the client being used to leave the voicemail message may affectwhether additional contextual information requested by a callee may beobtained. For example, a callee may request that the caller be promptedfor contextual information that is in any one of a number of differentformats including, but not limited to, audio, text, and/or image.However, a caller may employ a limited-feature client such as a POTStelephone to interact with the voicemail system. Obviously, even thougha telephony environment supports communicating the contextualinformation in the desired format, the caller may not be capable ofproviding the requested contextual information in a required format.However, other potential callers may use an application programinstalled on a computing device to interact with a voicemail system. Inthis example, the caller is capable of providing the requestedcontextual information. Second, contextual information that is requestedby the callee may be obtained automatically as a communication channelis established (at block 1404) or from a third-party service (at block1407). In this regard, the contextual information that was previouslyobtained may satisfy all of the requests of the callee. If the caller isnot able to provide the requested contextual information or all of therequested information was previously obtained, the caller will not beprompted for any additional contextual information and the collectionroutine 1400 proceeds to block 1412, described in further detail below.However, if the caller is capable of providing the requested contextualinformation that was not obtained previously, the collection routine1400 proceeds to block 1410.

As illustrated in FIG. 14, at block 1410, the collection routine 1400obtains additional contextual information by prompting the caller. Ininstances when a caller is using a client that is limited to sending oraccepting audio-based data such as a POTS telephone, a callee mayestablish a preference to have one or more prompts communicated to acaller using Text-to-Speech (“TTS”) technology. Alternatively, a calleemay record the prompts that will be played to the caller. However, if acaller is capable of accepting text-based data, for example, if thecallee is using a computing device to interact with the voicemailsystem, a text-based prompt may be presented to the caller. In anyevent, at block 1410, one or more prompts are presented and theadditional contextual information requested by the callee is obtained.Then, at block 1412, the body of the voicemail message is received. Inthis regard, it should be well understood that a caller may communicatethe body of the voicemail message, at block 1412, using any number ofdifferent clients or techniques.

At block 1414, any requested contextual information that was notpreviously obtained is “mined” or extracted from conversational datapackets that are included in the body of the voicemail message. Avoicemail account setting established by an account owner or by defaultmay cause certain contextual information to be identified from the bodyof a voicemail message. For example, if a caller does not provide inputfor the “subject” of the voicemail message when prompted, a user mayestablish a preference to have the “subject” identified from the body ofthe voicemail message. In this regard, the identification of the“subject” may merely involve using a highly relevant section of the bodyof the voicemail message, such as the first five (5) seconds of audio,as the “subject.” In other embodiments, the “mining” for contextualinformation performed at block 1414 may involve sophisticated filteringtechniques. By way of example, these techniques may use a voicerecognition engine to generate text from audio and identifystatistically significant keywords from the text that, through empiricalanalysis, have been identified as having a high probability of beingrelevant to the callee.

At block 1416, metadata that references any additional contextualinformation obtained by the collection routine 1400 is included with thevoicemail message. As mentioned previously, contextual informationassociated with a call conversation that is stored as a voicemailmessage is defined in metadata. At block 1416, any additional contextualinformation obtained by the collection routine 1400, either by accessinga third-party service, prompting the caller, and/or “mining” the body ofthe voicemail message, is added to the metadata associated with thevoicemail message. As described in further detail below with referenceto FIG. 15, the metadata identified by the collection routine 1400 maybe used to identify the contextual information that will be madeavailable to the callee. Then, the collection routine 1400 proceeds toblock 1418, where it terminates.

FIG. 15 is a flow diagram of a notification routine 1500 that makescontextual information available to a callee when a voicemail message isreceived. As illustrated in FIG. 15, the notification routine 1500begins at block 1502 and at block 1503 a callee accesses a voicemailsystem that manages the callee's voicemail account. As mentionedpreviously, a callee may access a voicemail account from a computingdevice using an email application, voicemail application, etc. In thisexample, one or more voicemail messages may be “downloaded” from acentralized server maintained by the callee's service provider. Also, acallee may access voicemail messages from an audio menu using a limitedfeature client capable of sending or receiving audio data. In any event,at block 1503, a callee accesses a voicemail system where the callee mayaccess any stored voicemail messages.

At block 1504, the notification routine 1500 obtains a set of contextualinformation that is associated with the callee who accessed thevoicemail system at block 1503. When the voicemail system is accessed, acommunication channel is established between clients associated with acallee and the callee's service provider. In this regard, the serviceprovider may have the callee's contextual information stored or mayreceive the contextual information automatically in the form ofstructured hierarchies. Since techniques for obtaining contextualinformation when a voicemail system is accessed is described above,further description of the techniques will not be provided here.

Upon the contextual information associated with the callee beingobtained, the notification routine 1500 processes the contextualinformation, at block 1505, to assess the capabilities of the clientused to access the voicemail system. As mentioned previously, a calleemay employ any number of different clients to access a voicemail systemwith each client having potentially different capabilities. For example,some feature-rich clients may be able to provide a callee withcontextual information in a number of different formats including, butnot limited to audio, text, and/or image. Other clients are more limitedand, for example, may only be able to communicate contextual informationto the callee in an audio format. As described in further detail below,aspects of the present invention make contextual information availableto a callee in potentially many different formats. Since thecapabilities of the client used to access the voicemail system mayaffect how and whether the contextual information will be madeavailable, the capabilities of the client are identified.

At block 1506, a data structure lookup is performed to identify how theset of contextual information requested by the callee is made available.As mentioned previously with reference to FIG. 13, the owner of avoicemail account may establish rules and preferences regarding howdifferent types of contextual information are made available. Forexample, if the callee accesses voicemail messages from an audio menu, alimited set of contextual information may be provided automatically oron demand depending on the configuration of the callee's voicemailaccount. Alternatively, if the voicemail system is accessed using ane-mail or voicemail application, a more extensive set of contextualinformation may be made available. In this regard, rules and preferencesestablished by the user may dictate that the extensive set of contextualinformation is included in the body or subject line of an e-mail messagewith the voicemail as an attachment. While specific examples of rulesand preferences are used to identify how contextual information will bemade available to the callee, those skilled in the art will recognizethat these examples are exemplary.

As illustrated in FIG. 15, at block 1507, the notification routine 1500converts any contextual information that will be made available to thecallee into the appropriate format. A caller may include contextualinformation with a voicemail message that is in any number of differentformats. A callee may prefer or be limited to accessing the contextualinformation in a format that is different than the current format inwhich the contextual information was provided. For example, thecollection routine 1400 described above with reference to FIG. 14 mayprompt a caller for the “subject” of a voicemail message. Typically, thecaller will respond to the prompt by verbally stating the subject,thereby providing contextual information that is in an audio format. Thecallee may have established preferences, identified by the notificationroutine 1500 at block 1506, to have contextual information madeavailable to the callee in a text-based format. If the client used toaccess the voicemail system supports the requested format, thenotification routine 1500 may convert contextual information at block1507. For example, if the callee receives a voicemail message as anattachment to an e-mail, an audio formatted “subject” may be convertedto text using a speech recognition engine. In other embodiments,contextual information provided by a caller in a text-based format maybe converted to an audio-based format using a Text to Speech (“TTS”)engine.

In some instances, contextual information included with a voicemailmessage is not capable of being converted, at block 1507, into a formatthat may be accessed by the callee. For example, an electronic image maybe included with a voicemail message. If the callee accesses thevoicemail system using a limited-feature client such as the POTStelephone, the image is not capable of being converted into a formatthat is accessible from the POTS telephone. In this example, theconversion performed at block 1507 may involve identifying a file namefor the image and notifying the callee that the image is included withthe voicemail message. More generally, those skilled in the art andothers will recognize that other circumstances exist in which contextualinformation may not be made available to the callee. In these instances,the callee may be notified of the existence of the contextualinformation but may not be able to access the information due to thecapabilities of the client being used.

As illustrated in FIG. 15, at block 1508, the callee is provided withaccess to the body of a voicemail message. As mentioned previously, acallee may obtain access to voicemail messages in any number ofdifferent ways including, but not limited to, (1) using an email orvoicemail application program to “download” voicemail messages to alocal computing device, or (2) interacting with a menu to select andlisten to a voicemail message. Since these and other systems thatprovide a callee with access to a voicemail message are generally knownin the art, they will not be described in detail here. However, itshould be well understood that the notification routine 1500 isconfigured to provide contextual information when a callee is notifiedof the existence of a voicemail message. For example, if the calleeobtains voicemail messages in e-mail attachments, the contextualinformation may be included in the body of the e-mail. Similarly, avoicemail application may include a Graphical User Interface (“GUI”)with fields that present contextual information in a predefined format.Also, as mentioned previously, an audio menu used to access voicemailmessages may provide contextual information to a callee automatically asa voicemail message is selected or on demand when the callee issues anappropriate command. Then the notification routine 1500 proceeds toblock 1510, where it terminates.

While illustrative embodiments have been illustrated and described, itwill be appreciated that various changes can be made therein withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention.

1. In an Internet telephony environment that includes a voicemail systemconfigured to receive a voicemail message, a method of obtainingcontextual information from a caller that is requested by a callee, themethod comprising: allowing a client associated with the callee tocreate a voicemail account for accepting the voicemail message; inresponse to a client associated with the caller being transferred to thevoicemail system: obtaining a first set of contextual information fromthe client associated with the caller; determining whether the voicemailaccount is configured to obtain additional contextual information; andif the voicemail account is configured to obtain additional contextualinformation, obtaining the additional contextual information requestedby the callee.
 2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprisingincluding references to the additional contextual information obtainedfrom the caller in the metadata of the voicemail message.
 3. The methodas recited in claim 1, further comprising: obtaining the body of thevoicemail message; extracting contextual information from the body ofthe voicemail message; and wherein extracting the contextual informationfor the body of voicemail message includes identifying statisticallysignificant keywords in the body of the voicemail message using a voicerecognition engine to convert audio to text.
 4. The method as recited inclaim 1, wherein the contextual information obtained from the callerincludes the subject of the voicemail message.
 5. The method as recitedin claim 1, wherein the first set of contextual information obtainedfrom the client associated with the caller may vary, depending on thecapabilities of the client.
 6. The method as recited in claim 1, whereindetermining whether the voicemail account is configured to obtainadditional contextual information requested by the callee, includes:comparing the first set of contextual information obtained automaticallywith the contextual information requested by the callee. if the calleerequests contextual information that is not available from a third-partyservice or included in the first set of contextual information,determining that additional contextual information will be obtained fromthe caller.
 7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein determiningwhether the voicemail account is configured to obtain additionalcontextual information requested by the callee, includes: identifyingthe data formats that the client associated with the caller is capableof capturing; and if the client associated with the caller is notcapable of capturing contextual information in a required data format,determining that the caller will not be prompted for the additionalcontextual information.
 8. The method as recited in claim 1, whereinobtaining the additional contextual information requested by the calleeincludes prompting the caller for the additional contextual information.9. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the additional contextualinformation obtained requested by the callee may be in a text, audio, orimage-based data format.
 10. The method as recited in claim 1, whereinobtaining the additional contextual information requested by the calleeincludes accessing a service that maintains the additional contextualinformation on behalf of the caller.
 11. A computer-readable mediumcontaining computer-readable instructions which, when executed, performsa method of providing contextual information to a callee, when thecallee accesses a voicemail account, the method comprising: identifyingthe capabilities of the client associated with the callee that accessesthe voicemail account; identifying contextual information that will bemade available to the callee; and providing the contextual informationto the callee.
 12. The computer readable-medium as recited in claim 11,wherein identifying the capabilities of the client associated with thecallee that accesses the voicemail account includes obtaining contextualinformation over a communication channel.
 13. The computerreadable-medium as recited in claim 11, wherein identifying contextualinformation that will be made available to the callee with a voicemailmessage includes performing a lookup in a data structure that storesrules and preferences established by the callee.
 14. The computerreadable-medium as recited in claim 11, wherein providing the user withaccess to the contextual information includes, converting contextualinformation into a format that is appropriate for the client associatedwith the callee that accesses the voicemail account.
 15. The computerreadable-medium as recited in claim 14, wherein converting contextualinformation into a format that is appropriate for the client associatedwith the callee that accesses the voicemail account includes, using aspeech-to-text engine to convert contextual information from a text toaudio format if contextual information in a text format will be providedto the callee in an audio format.
 16. The computer readable-medium asrecited in claim 14, wherein converting contextual information into aformat that is appropriate for the client associated with the calleethat accesses the voicemail account includes, using a voice recognitionengine to convert contextual information from an audio to text format ifcontextual information in a audio format will be provided to the calleein a text format.
 17. The computer readable-medium as recited in claim11, wherein providing the callee with access to the contextualinformation includes adding contextual information obtained by promptingthe caller to the body of an e-mail message if an e-mail application isused to obtain the voicemail message.
 18. A computer-readable mediumhaving computer executable components for obtaining contextualinformation related to a voicemail message from a caller and providingthe contextual information to the callee, comprising: a collectioncomponent for obtaining contextual information from a caller when avoicemail message is received; a notification component that providesthe contextual information obtained from the caller to a callee when thevoicemail message is accessed; and an account creation component forgenerating a voicemail account that store rules and preferences forobtaining contextual information with a voicemail message.
 19. Thecomputer readable-medium as recited in claim 18, further comprising anextraction component for mining contextual information from the body ofa voicemail message.
 20. The computer readable-medium as recited inclaim 18, wherein the collection component is further configured to:automatically obtain contextual information from the caller; anddetermine whether additional contextual information is requested by thecallee.